The Fate of Olympus | Reynabeth [✓]

4. Nerio, Goddess of War

Annabeth had consulted Ceric Lang's encyclopedia because they needed a deity who fit all of Annabeth's criteria for her quest:

1. They knew stuff about the nature of reality,

2. they were willing to tell Reyna or Annabeth about the nature of reality in a straightforward, understandable way,

3. they could divulge these ancient secrets without letting others (especially Olympians and monsters) know that they had done so,

4. who Annabeth and/or Reyna could actually talk to without being intercepted, and

5. who would not be interested in killing Reyna, Annabeth, demigods, humanity, etc.

It was a tough list. None of the major gods fit that list because they wouldn't want to discuss metaphysics with demigods. It could undermine their position as rulers of the universe. A lot of minor gods had pledged their allegiance to Kronos during the Titan war, so there was the possibility that they would like to kill Annabeth or Reyna seeing as they'd both contributed to the Titans' defeat.

Annabeth had been mulling over all of the gods she knew, turning each name over in her head, but she ruled every single deity out, one by one. They needed someone they had never even heard of.

Annabeth had skimmed the encyclopedia and marked pages where she thought that the gods had sounded promising, and through process of elimination, wound up at one goddess whose identity seemed promising.

The only way to know for sure if Nerio was the right goddess was to talk to her.

At the center of Camp Jupiter, there were shrines to both Bellona and Minerva. With Nico, child of the Underworld; Reyna, daughter of Bellona; and Annabeth, daughter of Minerva (actually Athena, but that was a technicality); they could combine their efforts and get a god's attention. Hopefully.

Nerio was the goddess of valor in battle. The encyclopedia had said that Nerio's attributes had been subsumed into Minerva and Bellona, so that Nerio had been nearly forgotten as a result. Annabeth figured that Nerio was still around, seeing as personal courage and war still existed. So, her thinking went, if two people stood inside places of power belonging to Minerva and Bellona simultaneously, while Nico manipulated things from his end, they could bring back Nerio's essence.

The encyclopedia had said that cults to Nerio had burned spoils of war to her, so Annabeth and Reyna would burn Greek "spoils" simultaneously at their parents' altars. The last thing that Annabeth wanted to do during a heat wave was make a giant fire, but maybe suffering through the heat was valor. Surely with their combined strength, they could embody the spirit of Nerio.

As soon as the clock began chiming noon from the college campus, Annabeth sacrificed a Greek helmet to Minerva. Supposedly, Reyna was sacrificing thirty Greek drachma to Bellona. Annabeth had never met Bellona, but she hoped that she liked gold.

"O Nerio, goddess of valor," Annabeth chanted. "Show yourself!"

Annabeth began chanting in Latin, but it didn't come very easily to her. She'd had to memorize the chant phonetically from Ceric Lang's encyclopedia. It sounded clunky even to her ears. Hopefully the chanting was going more easily for Reyna.

As soon as Annabeth stopped chanting "Dedication to the Goddess Nerio," there was a flash of light outside the temple. Annabeth ran outside. The sun beat down on her. Reyna's cloak, which seemed to radiate light itself, made the sunlight feel even hotter.

A woman was standing outside. She had brown hair, a plumed helmet, and a video game controller that was plugged into both the Minerva and Bellona temples. If it hadn't been for her dark brown eyes, Annabeth might have mistaken her for her own mother.